UPDATE #2 Post Irma – Week 8

UPDATE #2 Post Irma – Week 8

Here we are 8 weeks later and we are still awaiting for news on Restless Spirit. Our contact at the insurance seems sure she will be a CTL (Constructive Total Loss), but we have to wait for the claims department to let us know. We are still hopeful that we will be able to repair her and get her back up and running.

Packing up our belongings was made more difficult due to the massive landslide that occurred by our driveway. It took several days of hard manual labor, with our neighbors help, to clear enough of the road to get our car out so we could get to the grocery store and collect drinking water. We were unable to get the car back down due to the fragile state of the road. This meant walking box after box up a very steep hill to store at my neighbors house (see the yellow house at the top of the picture!). We were not able to locate any storage units that were not being used. Most of the storage units were rented out to locals first.

Clearing away enough of the landslide to retrieve our cars

Maggie and I left Island on October 31st with the help of the Kenny Chesney Love City Foundation. I was running into problems trying to get our pets off Island and these guys were able to help us! We will be forever grateful. Not only did they help us and our dogs and cat, but we rode with 25 other dogs and cats from the St John Humane Society to start new lives through adoption.

On the ferry to St Thomas to catch our flight.

Loading up the smaller cats and dogs onto the seats.

We are basing ourselves in NC for the short term since we have essentially lost our business, along with our boat and to put Maggie into Kindergarten. We are staying with our dear friends who are our family.

The Island finally opened back up to tourists November 1st and it is a great step forward. However, living conditions are still very challenging, for most of the Islanders are still without power, water and access to affordable food.